The annual SEED Awards call upon eco entrepreneurs and their enterprises that incorporate social and environmental benefits in their business models to apply for the US $5000 in prize money and recognition at a high-level International Awards Ceremony. Winners also receive capacity building support and opportunities to link to other eco-enterprises and the SEED Partners and network.

The 2015 Awards will focus on start-up enterprises working at the grassroots level. The Awards also encourage enterprises that are led or owned by women to submit their applications. The jury will be looking in particular for enterprises that have developed innovative products or services, and intend to become financially sustainable.

The deadline for applications is 31 March 2015, 23:59 Central European Time (CET).

Winners of the 2014 SEED Awards included, among others, an enterprise that produces premium outdoor furniture out of recycled plastic and organic waste materials in Colombia, a women’s farming cooperative that improves food security in Nepal, an enterprise that markets solar electricity kiosks in rural off-grid areas of Malawi and an enterprise that promotes bikes as subsidised moving billboards for the rural poor in Mozambique.